Michal Hromek Consort

Jakub KlárFlutist Jakub Klár graduated from the Prague Consrevatory. He has been member of many ensembles spanning a wide array of musical styles from Irish music to rock to jazz. He is also a teacher of flute and recorder and a sought after session player. – flute, whistle, recorder

Daniel MikolášekPercussionist Daniel Mikolášek graduated from the Prague Conservatory, where he also studied organ. He is a member of The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and cooperates with many other ensembles. He is a much sought after studio musician and teaches melodic percussion at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. – percussion, recorder, vocals

The repertoire of the ensemble is, apart from the ensemble’s original work, based on European baroque and renaissance as well as traditional folk music. But Michal Hromek Consort (MHC) are not seeking an “authentic” interpretation – rather, they adapt both traditional and original tunes making use of different styles of music. The ensemble specializes in adaptations of tunes attributed to a legendary Irish harper Turlogh O’Carolan (most prevalent on the Carolan CD), but more and more gets inspiration e. g. in the music of Scottish Baroque lute tablatures (Balcarres MS) and also in European Renaissance music. Last but not least, the concerts and records feature original compositions influenced by the above-mentioned sources; these, however, also incorporate contrasting sounds of modern acoustic music. An important part of the repertoire is made up of adaptations of traditional songs of Ireland, Scotland, and also of Bohemia and Slovakia.

The MHC quartet formed from a group of studio musicians who took part in the recording sessions of Michal Hromek’s original albums. In this regard, the longest serving member of the ensemble was violist and violinist René Vácha, who was contributing his skills as far back as the 1990’s Celtic Guitar, awarded a gold disc in Canada (he left the group in 2011). In 1996, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Mikolášek (Vácha’s colleague from the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) and flute player Jakub Klár met while recording Hromek’s fourth album, The Wild Mountain Thyme. The sixth CD of this series (Consort Music) was already published under the MHC name.

In 2004, soprano and harpist Kateřina Doležalová started her association with the ensemble, allowing it to enhance its repertoire, until then purely instrumental, with adaptations of traditional songs and ballads from Scotland, Ireland, and also Bohemia and Slovakia. This trend of the occasional expansion of the ensemble is followed in the present as well. For instance, from the five summer concerts of the FOLK-BAROQUE 2011 travelling festival singer Hana Horká had been cooperating with the group for several seasons. Currently, singers Petra Kohoutová and Klára Boudalová have been alternatively joining the quartet on regular basis and violist and violinist Matěj Kroupa similarly shares the post with Kateřina Lískovcová.